Germany has recorded a daily record 952 coronavirus-related deaths, as shops, schools and nurseries across the country close for an emergency Christmas lockdown.
After experiencing relatively low numbers of infections and fatalities compared with other European countries in the spring, Germany’s disease control agency has recorded more than 400 deaths for 11 days in a row.
Wednesday’s figure of 952 deaths was artificially inflated by the fact that Saxony, one of the federal states most affected by the second wave, also supplied numbers its health authorities had failed to report for Monday.
Even without the 153 coronavirus-related deaths recorded from the eastern state, however, Wednesday’s numbers represent a record for the country. The previous peak, reached less than a week ago, was 598.
The Robert Koch Institute reported 27,728 new infections on Wednesday, a 33% rise on the same day last week. The total number of infections in Germany since the beginning of the pandemic stands at 1,379,238. Just over 1 million of those cases have since registered as having recovered from the virus.
Schools across Germany switched to online learning for the last three days of term from Wednesday, while most nurseries offered care only for children of parents with an “extraordinarily urgent need”.
High streets across the country were quiet after a pre-Christmas rush at the start of the week, with only supermarkets, grocery stores, pharmacies and other essential stores open for business.
Christmas tree vendors are allowed to continue trading, while bookstores can offer “click-and-collect” services.
Restrictions on social gatherings will be relaxed from 24-26 December, allowing each household to be visited by four family members above the age of 14. Those planning to spend Christmas with their families are urged to limit social contacts to “an absolute minimum” in the week ahead.
The lockdown restrictions will stay in place until 10 January, but could be extended if infection rates do not go down.
In a week of bleak midwinter news, many in Germany welcomed Tuesday’s announcement that the European Medicines Agency had brought forward its decision day for the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine to Monday 21 December, meaning EU countries could start immunising people before the end of the year.
The health minister, Jens Spahn, from chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), predicted on Tuesday that the new lockdown would take time to manifest itself in a clear downward trend in the daily figures.
As a result, Spahn told broadcaster ntv, some restrictions would need to stay in place beyond 10 January, even once people were being vaccinated.
“Only because we are starting with the vaccination programme, soon after Christmas, doesn’t mean that we will no longer need any rules,” he said.
He was nonetheless hopeful that there would be a gradual return to normal from the summer: “That’s a perspective you can deal with,” Spahn said.